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News & Events
Institut Pasteur Korea to Lead Korean ARPA-H Project to Combat Latent Tuberculosis
2026-09-09
Institut Pasteur Korea to Lead
Korean ARPA-H Project to Combat Latent Tuberculosis
- Developing a nanoparticle-based platform for precision diagnosis and
targeted therapy of latent tuberculosis -
- Seven institutions across industry, academia, research and healthcare to collaborate in
KRW 13 billion research project -
Korean ARPA-H Project to Combat Latent Tuberculosis
- Developing a nanoparticle-based platform for precision diagnosis and
targeted therapy of latent tuberculosis -
- Seven institutions across industry, academia, research and healthcare to collaborate in
KRW 13 billion research project -
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(Sep. 9, 2026, Gyeonggi-do, Rep. of Korea) Institut Pasteur Korea (IPK) announced on September 9 that it has been selected as the lead research institution for the “Development of a Platform to Prevent the Reactivation of Latent Infections” project under the Health Security mission of the Korean ARPA-H Project, led by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW).
Supported by the MOHW and the K-Health MIRAE Initiative of the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), the Korean ARPA-H Project is a national R&D initiative designed to address major challenges in five mission areas: health security, overcoming intractable diseases, securing a technological edge in biohealth, improving welfare and care, and essential healthcare.
The selected research project, titled “Development of a Nanoparticle-Based Platform for Precision Diagnosis and Targeted Therapy of Latent Tuberculosis (TB),” will be led by Soojin Jang, Head of the Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory at IPK, as principal investigator.
IPK will serve as the lead research institution, with the Ajou University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Gyeongsang National University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, and MasterMediTech Co., Ltd. participating as collaborative research institutions. The Gachon University Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation and Seoul National University Bundang Hospital will participate as commissioned research institutions. The project is expected to receive approximately KRW 13 billion in research funding over four and a half years through 2030.
Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a condition in which a person is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis but has no symptoms and has not developed active TB. Some individuals with LTBI may later progress to active TB. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), 17,070 TB cases were reported in Korea last year, while LTBI was identified in 24.7% of close contacts of TB patients, underscoring the continued need for systematic management of latent infection and prevention of progression to active TB.
Current LTBI diagnostic methods, however, primarily focus on determining whether infection has occurred, making it difficult to identify individuals at high risk of developing active TB. Existing treatment also has limitations, including adverse effects such as hepatotoxicity and the burden of prolonged medication. There is therefore an urgent need for new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies that can more precisely identify and treat individuals at high risk of disease progression.
To address these challenges, the research team will establish an integrated industry–academia–research–healthcare platform designed to precisely identify individuals with LTBI who are at high risk of developing active TB and connect diagnosis with targeted therapy to proactively prevent disease progression.
Through the project, the consortium will establish highly sensitive diagnostic technologies using nanoparticles, identify and optimize therapeutic candidates targeting mechanisms involved in the survival and reactivation of latent M. tuberculosis, and develop technologies to selectively deliver therapeutic agents to sites of infection.
As part of the project, IPK will establish cellular and animal models that recapitulate key characteristics of latent tuberculosis and use these models to evaluate the efficacy of highly sensitive detection technologies and targeted therapeutic candidates.
Sung Key Jang, CEO of IPK, said, “This research is significant in that it will establish a multilayered validation framework that reflects key characteristics of latent tuberculosis. By building a collaborative platform across industry, academia, research institutions and healthcare to prevent the reactivation of latent tuberculosis, we aim to deliver tangible outcomes that contribute to TB elimination in Korea and worldwide.”